Now, admittedly, I am not a fan of musicals. I find it weird and uncomfortable to listen to dialogue that should be spoken but instead is being sung to one another (as my boyfriend's dad so aptly put it, "I'm confused...they're singing stuff they should be saying..."). Additionally, musicals are generally over-acted, over-hyped, and incapable of consisting of a plot heavier than "mild dilemma." (And even if the musical does have serious themes in it [ahem, Rent], the stupid melodic dialogue dilutes them to that of a mild annoyance expressed in song form.) Just because I'm predisposed to dislike musicals, however, doesn't mean I hate them all. I thought Chicago and Moulin Rouge were all right (although Moulin Rouge had the clichést of cliché storylines), and I have a soft spot in my heart for Little Shop of Horrors. (Is it wrong to name my firstborn child Audrey II? I thought not...)
That being said, I've grown to accept the Academy of Motion Picture's retarded obsession with musicals. Whenever one is released, those cockwads go "OH MY FUCKING GOD, THERE'S A MUSICAL OUT THIS YEAR!!!!!", and they start excitedly polishing the statuettes and engraving them. I don't agree with it, but I've learned to live with it. (Unlike you, Golden Globes, with your bullshit "Best Picture in a Comedy or Musical" award going to a fucking musical any time a musical has been released that year. If you want to give the award to a musical every year, then separate the category and stop stealing Best Picture wins from more deserving comedies.)
What I REFUSE to accept, however, is any sort of justification, drug-induced or otherwise, in giving Jennifer Hudson an award for playing Effie in Dreamgirls. The last time I checked, you were supposed to hand out Oscars for ACTING awards, not for being able to adequately belt out a song. (And yes, I said adequately--we all know that any other black woman with a powerful singing voice could have sung those songs just as good, if not better, than Jennifer Hudson did.) Jennifer Hudson did a good job singing in Dreamgirls; what she did not do an award-worthy job of was acting in Dreamgirls.
Watch the movie for yourself. You'll see that when Jennifer's not singing, she's over-acting, and she's over-acting because she doesn't know how to act. Her acting ability in Dreamgirls ranges from shouting to...well, that's really about it. She shouts a lot. Her character's not that likeable. (Come to think of it, none of the characters in Dreamgirls are...)
Anyway, I can understand not awarding Abigail Breslin the Oscar because she's just a kid, and it's always novel to simply nominate the precocious child actor for being cute and able-minded enough to memorize her lines. I didn't see Notes on a Scandal because it looked like Single White Female with better actors, so I can't vouch for Cate Blanchett. I did, however, see Babel, and I can definitively say that either Adriana Barraza or Rinko Kikuchi certainly deserved to win more than Jennifer Hudson. Both of these actresses actually acted in their movie, and they did a great job. They displayed a range of emotion, vulnerability, and craft...but did they get awarded for their efforts? No, their only reward was watching some fat girl win their award based solely on hype and vocal talent.
What pisses me off the most about this night is that every year I tell myself, "Don't watch the Oscars, Rebecca. You'll only be seething with rage at the end of the night due to some horrendous injustice that the Oscars shove in your face" (see Roberto Benigni beating Edward Norton, Shrek beating Monsters, Inc., Hilary Swank beating Imelda Staunton, etc). But every year I'm enticed to watch again. I'm the Tina Turner to the Oscars' Ike. Each year the awards show makes sweet promises of entertainment and deserved wins, and each year my trust gets raped once more.
So fuck you, Academy Awards. Fuck you for never nominating those who truly deserve it, for giving the award to those who don't deserve it, and for duping me into watching every year. And fuck you this time next year, when you'll no doubt trick me into watching once again. That last one was a preemptive "fuck you," but you know you'll deserve it in 2008.
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